Patchwork frill hem pinny

I finally got around to making another batch of the frill hem pinny's , they do look so super cute when they are piled up together.


Batch of ladybird dresses , I just need to iron them and then sew buttons onto the top of the ladybird as the little head.
I put a little babushka print in these dresses last time , but i didn't have any left , so i put a print of london scenes into the frill and i just love it.

washing day

I want to make another batch of the patchwork skirts with old doillies as aprons on them , and maybe some denim dresses with the doillies as well , so i put a whole lot of doillies i had collected through the washing machine as a survival of the fittest challenge , if the were so old they disintegrated they would not make it through to the next round of being put onto a garment, after all they have to be in good enough condition to survive being chucked in the washing with all the other kids dirty clothes when they are finished and being worn.
But all the doillies just looked so pretty drying on the line that i just thought i needed to share a photo.

I always wash the red fabrics first , before making them up as red dye always runs out ! it's a pain , but it does make me happy looking out the window seeing spotty red and white fabric drying on the line.

I am such an old lady...........

If i spend a sunday afternoon embriodering a picture of myself and my dog..........
a- i love my dog a little bit too much
b- i have offically turned into an old lady
c- i need to get out of the house and down a cocktail
d- all of the above
I haven't quite finished it yet and i want to add an 3dimensional arm onto myself and then put a lead hanging from my hand , accross the wall to the dogs lead.

finally...I made a patchwork doona cover for myself...

After collecting fabrics for 3 or so years i finally got around to sewing all the squares together and making it into a doona cover. It is making me so happy now , i love it on my bed!

spring is here! time to get out into the garden and finish my moasic...

I got into moasic a few years ago and did the wall in my backyard , which has trasformed a cold , poky , concrete space.



I need to finish off my herb garden that i started to mosaic with broken plates and cups.I still need to grout it but i have been waiting for some warm weather so its a joy to be out there doing it.

new batch of button shoulder tunic dresses

I finished a batch of button shoulder tunic dresses to take to piccadilly market. I will endevour to put some on the etsy site.

I used Soft , earthy toned vintage fabrics for a tree scene .
and the brightly coloured car and caravan.....

Grrr....new dinosaur motif

Can't forget to make things for the boys ! I did a whole lot of dinosaurs on onesies and long sleeve tops . I was especially happy with the ones on this new dusty mid blue colour fabric.

beautiful sunny morning at cammerwell market

Had a great morning at camberwell market. As i am always doing markets myself i don't manage to get there very often , but if i have a free weekend we always go. It was freezing but beautiful and clear and the sun was shining. i bought myself this very cute fox brooch from the little shop of handmade , and it was a bargain at only $10.
...and finally i got to the vintage button woman, i have been trying to get to her for ages  So i was wrapt to get there and i bought up big , i spent $50 on buttons , but some are for putting on the retrobub pinny dresses.

Forget the maccaroon tower.....

forget the maccaroons...we have been going crazy with a yummy , old fashioned , warm rice pudding.I've been adding pear and apple so it stews in with the rice and cream...yum.
and i still love cupcakes

vintage doily apron skirt

I have been making these skirts with a patchwork-ed together , gathered skirt and then putting a little apron on at the front , which ties around at the back. I have been going around the op-shops and  getting vintage doillies to make the aprons out of and of course they are all one-offs and each different.This one ended up soo gourgoeus that i had to get a photo before i sold it ,I was actually sad to have sold it .

yeah!...finally a rack of finished storybook reversible pinny dresses

I finally have made up the reversible storybook pinny dresses and have a loverly rack full with 4 different ones in each size.I made the samples and patterns last year! and bought all the fabrics but then i just never got around to making them ...and people kept seeing the samples and wanting one,,,argghh...so i am very happy that i finally got around to making a big batch, and they have come out just great, they make you want to squeeze a little girls cheeks..they are just so vintage-ish and innocent .

real retro storybook looking pictures of children playing with ice creams and puppies , I've combined it with a great little apple print - except in this one i accidently got that fabric upside down.Luckily i realised before i made them all and i only mucked up that one.
off to the circus in green and pink, i love that fabric sooo much , it has such a great retro feel.
alfabet letters, kittens , children walking a dog and that little red and white spot fabric that i love
carousel horses, children playing with a balloon and tiny kittens....cute!

Geli in the dove denim pinny

Sitting in the bean bag ,while I set up the backdrop , before the photo-shoot the model is simply bored....

best of the finished photo's ... 
dress looks good but look at poor Geli's face ! 
not happy ! 
horrible person that i am trying to make her lie still for a photo...
...OK..thankyou...I have my dummy now..I'm happy ...I know it ruins the pictures your trying to take of me but I am a tempermental model...

twins in babushka dresses....

I have been trying to get a photo of the twins in there babushka dresses because they look sooo

adorable but it is mission imppossible to get a photo with both of them looking good at the same time...the best photo's ended up the ones of them individually waiting in the bouncer while i positioned the other one......


OK...so it's not the ideal way to carry children....look at the look on my face, I was not expecting to get photographed...

i love my new bike !

I bought my enormous new " A-Team" van to do the markets...and it is fantastic for that , I've got soooooo much room in there its great. but trying to park the thing? in the inner city! argggh

so I spoilt myself and bought a cool retro bike so I can ride down to the shop and the post office because i can't ever find a park down there that i can get the van into. And i think this is a good push for me to get out of the car and exercise and be green-er.So the bike is a blue schwinn and i have now put a wicker basket on the front, with the idea that the basket will be full (?) or packaged up etsy sales that i will be riding down to the post office to send..what do they say dream it and it will happen..., this photo shows my teenage daughter borrowing it and what sort of mother am i letting her ride it without a helmet! do we have a style over safety issue...? well maybe just for the photo....

ladybird....

I was going through my photo's and I found some photo's of this ladybird range that i made 3 or 4 years ago and I was thinking that I should make some more of them as I still think they are too cute. The pockets are in denim and have petals of white denim around them. Then they have a tiny little ladybird made out of spot fabric with a button for the head. I have used a 4 hole button so that when i sew it on it ends up with the thread making the 2 eyes.

I am really getting carried away with the details.........

I am really happy with the motif designs i have been doing on my retrobub denim tunic dresses, but the amount of detail i am putting into them is getting a bit silly...it is not something i can really charge people for as it is taking me so long , but it is the part of the whole process that i enjoy the most. This design has the most adorable fabric with little squirrels and birds that i just love , and i've put a little lace curtain in the window of the house and and an owl in the tree...too cute!

3-d little flap apron on the doll with buttons for eyes and a button flower in her hair...it is just too cute! even if i do say so myself

Koa happy in her birdy onesies........

darling Koa...I'm not that funny with my camera am I?

Geli looking thoughtful in her onesie with a little squirrel in a tree

beautiful photo my daughter took..........

Sewing room studio

I applicae on the motifs using a very close zig-zag stitch.This is the spot where i spend most of each day...at the sewing machine.
I make all my garments from scratch , so that means starting with making the patterns. I put thought into the styles and the patterns trying to make things that have intresting shapes , that fit well and that are practical , taking into consideration fast growing children need sizing that is ajustable and that clothes need to be easy to get on and off.
I use a old style studding making to manually put the studs onto the jumpsuits. ( or i get my mum to do it for me ! thanks mum.....got to love that unpaid labour!)

i love fabric

happy noah in his doggy t

my dog cookie

Dove summer beach dress

I love this dress that I have made the last two summers, it is such a chuck on and your dressed , let's go off to the beach dress. Super comfy , it is really at t-shirt with a bit of a skirt sewn on. So now i am thinking of the summer coming and looking for fabrics to make new versions of this dress.
                                                Modelled by the loverly Ella